Meeting Education Requirements for:

• Defense Acquisition Corps Membership

Requirements:

1.   A baccalaureate degree at an accredited educational institution authorized to grant baccalaureate degrees (Ref:  USC 10 Sec 1732 para (b) (1) (A) (i)),

2.   At least 24 semester credit hours (or the equivalent)of study from an accredited institution of higher education from among the following disciplines (Ref:  USC 10 Sec 1732 para (b) (1) (B) (i)):

Or in lieu of number 2 above (Ref:  USC10 Sec 1732 para (b) (1) (B) (ii)):

 At least 24 semester credit hours (or the equivalent)from an accredited institution of higher education in the person's career field

AND    either    12 semester credit hours (or the equivalent) from such an institution from among the disciplines listed above or   

equivalent training as prescribed by the Secretary of Defense to ensure proficiency in the disciplines listed above

Guidelines:

• Defense acquisition workforce members who, as of 1 October 1991, had at least 10 years of experience in acquisition positions or in comparable positions in other government agencies or the private sector are exempt from meeting educational requirements associated with Defense Acquisition Corps Membership.
  
• Credit hours that are not based on a semester system, e.g., quarter and trimester systems, must be converted to semester credit hours.
  
• ACE (American Council on Education) does not grant or award college credit for courses. They do, however; recommend credit hours for many courses sponsored by DoD Service Schools and organizations to include the Defense Acquisition University, other government agencies, and business and industry. These credit recommendations cannot be used to meet education requirements.  To be acceptable, the ACE recommended credits must be matriculated (accepted) by a regionally accredited academic institution and appear on a (college or university) transcript.
  
• The degree and credit hour requirement should be viewed as mutually exclusive requirements.  In other words, the credit hour requirement could be resident in the degree, could be completely outside of the degree program, or be a combination of the two. The applicant meets the requirement if the answer to both of the below, mutually exclusive, questions is YES:

“Does the applicant have a baccalaureate degree?”
“Does the applicant have 24 (or 12 as appropriate) semester credit hours in business?”

• The 24 semester hours in business (or 12 as appropriate) IS NOT to be interpreted as 24 hours (or 12 as appropriate) of concentrated study in any one particular field within business.  The semester hour requirements may be met through any combination of the specified disciplines.
  
• Credit recommended from successful completion of examinations administered by the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) may be substituted for ALLsemester credit hour requirements.  DANTES sponsors the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) and DANTES Subject Standardized Tests (DSSTs) through the college board and the Educational Testing Service (ETS).  Nine tests are available and a passing score on an examination qualifies for three (3) semester credit hours which may be used towards meeting the semester credit hour requirement.  The passing scores do not have to be listed on a college transcript to be acceptable

• The term “(or the equivalent)” when used in Requirement 2 above, refers to semester credit hours earned at an accredited academic institution, i.e., if the workforce member completed coursework at an accredited academic institution of higher education that uses a quarter or trimester credit hour system, those hours must be converted to semester credit hours.  
  
• The term “equivalent training” when used in Requirement 2, means that the 12 semester credit hours may be met in whole or in part through completion of business courses recommended by ACE.  When substituting ACE recommended courses for semester hours, the hours need not appear on a college transcript.  Rather, the information contained in the ACE database along with other proof of course completion such as the DAU transcript is sufficient for documentary evidence.  The database of ACE Recommended Credit hours is accessible on the internet.  This option (using ACE recommended credits) cannot be applied to the 24 credit hour requirement in the individual’s career field.